$20,000 To Bryant Alleged Victim Gets Scrutiny

Kobe Bryant’s defense attorneys say his accuser has received nearly $20,000 in victim’s compensation, which they say casts doubt on her reasons for pursuing the case, says the Denver Post. The money awarded to the woman for mental-health treatment and lost wages far exceeds normal disbursements from the state and has encouraged the 20-year-old to persist with a “false allegation,” defense attorney Pamela Mackey told District Judge Terry Ruckriegle. The charge was made in a closed hearing in June that has become the subject of a battle before the U.S. Supreme Court after Ruckriegle banned publication of their contents when they were mistakenly sent to seven media outlets.

Mackey noted that the woman received $17,000 for mental-health treatment, far above the $1,125 set in the guidelines of the victim’s compensation board, and that the facility was not in Colorado, contrary to regulations. “The bottom line is this is an extraordinary amount of money for victim’s compensation to pay,” said former Denver prosecutor Craig Silverman, a legal analyst who is following the case. “Normally these type of things pay for someone’s glasses if they are broken.” Others say the expenses are within reason.Steve Siegel, past president of the Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance, said that under state law, crime victims are entitled to up to $20,000 in assistance. “Psychiatric care is very expensive,” said former Denver prosecutor Bill Buckley. “She’s obviously been traumatized by the incident and everything that has gone on since then. I don’t think it is exorbitant. I’m sure they didn’t pay it out willy-nilly.”

TCR AT A GLANCE

The award honors individuals in the media or media-related fields who have advanced national understanding on the 21st century challenges of criminal justice. It will be presented Feb 16, 2017 at a dinner at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.

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